Police defend handling of Tiger Woods crash site saying he didn’t receive special treatment

Los Angeles County Sheriff admitted department needed more drug recognition experts

Authorities in California have defended the handling of the car crash site of Tiger Woods, saying he did not receive special treatment from authorities.

The 15-time major golf champion crashed a loaned $50,000 Genesis GV80 SUV on 23 February in Los Angeles, leaving him hospitalised with severe leg injuries.

In the aftermath of the crash, authorities said that Mr Woods would not face any charges following the accident, saying he was not under the influence of any substance.

Questions have been raised as to why authorities did not perform blood or alcohol tests on Woods after the accident. The department has insisted “there was no evidence of any impairment whatsoever”.

On 24 February, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said a drug recognition expert (DRE) had not been brought to the scene as no further evaluation was needed.

In an interview with USA Today on Wednesday, Mr Villanueva stipulated that Woods did not receive special treatment but talked about “lessons learned” from accidents.

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“For anybody suggesting he somehow received any different treatment than anybody else, he did not,” Mr Villanueva told the newspaper.

“We do need more DRE experts within the department,” the sheriff said, noting that they would “be training with the resources we have to increase our pool of available DRE experts”.

“And that’s something that obviously, lessons learned from every incident and how can we can apply what we learned to future events and to make ourselves more, a better organisation and more effective?," he said. "And those are one of the things we’re going to be doing.”

Police previously said that upon discovery of Mr Woods following the crash that “he was lucid, no odour of alcohol, no evidence of any medication, narcotics”.

The incident is not the first involving the Florida-based Mr Woods and his driving. In May 2017, Florida police found Mr Woods asleep behind the wheel of his car on the side of a road.

Mr Woods later pleaded guilty to reckless driving and received treatment for his use of prescription medication and a sleep disorder.

The star announced in a statement on Tuesday that he had finally returned to Florida after the accident to recover, thanking medical staff for his treatment.

“Happy to report that I am back home and continuing my recovery. I am so grateful for the outpouring of support and encouragement that I have received over the past few weeks,” he said.

"Thank you to the incredible surgeons, doctors, nurses and staff at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. You have all taken such great care of me and I cannot thank you enough.”